Evolution of Media

He always had a whole new different take on adding background music to dramas specially that too off television dramas. Mostofa Kamal Sayed apart from his own dramas also helped out other producers from different dramas with background music in televisions. He has all the best collections from all over the world. There is a store on elephant road named as “Gaaner Dali”. At that time iPod, Mp3, video, and audio CD was not available. The only thing that was available at that time was cassettes and longbell or big RPM records. There was no cd cassettes store in Dhaka. Huge collections of music could only be found in Ganer Dali. Mr. Kamal used to go there. And from there he used to keep himself up to date with music. Apart from music Mostofa Kamal Sayed had a hobby of collecting pens. He used to have a wonderful collection of pens stacked in his tables. Also Mr. Kamal had a fine sense of style when it came to clothing especially in terms of wearing shirts. However he was one of those producers in television who didn't felt like coming in front of the screen. Even though he achieved numerous designated posts in television he felt a sense of disapproval in appearing before the media. But at the same time the work he had done in radio dramas are simply beyond our knowledge.

Among the artists who are known for their golden voice in radio, Mostafa Kamal Sayed is one of them. Apart from acting in radio dramas, he also gave his voice for commercials and television shows. At a time voice of commercial meant the voice of Mostafa Kamal Sayed. After getting higher positions in television he stopped himself from giving his voice. He completely isolated himself from the earning from his voicing only for the sake of television. Such was his honest personality.

From morning till night he used to stay inside the television centre. Most of the time he used to had guava or other types of fruits in his lunch. Mr. Kamal didn't used to drink tea or coffee that much. Even now being as the head of program in NTV he selects quality oriented programs. At a time like now when lots of channels are struggling to find different varieties of program Mr. Kamal is gifting lots of clean and good quality oriented programs to NTV. Apart from the drama's he has also produced lots of music programs. During the NTV's fourth anniversary he was involved in everything starting from the stage to producing the program he did everything. Because of his involvement in the program he added a whole new level to it which left quite an impression on the audience. The importance of background music, such as how to use additional music after an important dialogue or how to input music directly on a mute shoot here Mr. Kamal was the first person to show it in the television dramas. The Helican machine was introduced in dramas right after the Quard machines, this was the first time the method of inserting was used in dramas. In the Quard machine the thing had to be shot continuously without any pause.

If something was cut between the shoot then it might lead to disruptions. But in case of the Helican machine this kind of problems did not occurred. Anything could be cut anywhere between the recording and during the editing different shot could be taken in with the audio in the correct place. With the introduction of these machines both Abdullah Al Mamun and Mostafa Kamal Sayed was filled with excitement as to what new and fresh thing can they deliver to the dramas. Famous playwright Momtazuddin Ahmed wrote the drama “Char Chokher Khela” based on the benefits of the machine. Here the key character role was enacted by Mita Chowdhury. At that time the shot of television program and other works was completed after the airing of the program. The entire team worked whole night at that day with full on excitement and spirit. It's amazing how a new machine could generate so much creativity and excitement over the people, the next day when the show was on air Mostofa Kamal Sayed felt an emotional surge on using the background music in the drama.

Mostofa Kamal Sayed had a distinct style in producing his dramas his style and finish was different from others. Since the introduction of Helican machine he introduced dramas with background music and from there on the audience could easily determine that it was of Mostofa Kamal Sayed works.

The writer is Managing Director, Channel i

Translated by Imtiaz Salim